Suit Aims To Bar `Ladies' Nights'

Suburban Lawyer Says Discount Discriminates Against Men

A coy smile apparently was all it cost the woman in the tummy-baring top to get into the nightclub Buzz. The woman in the miniskirt boasted she never paid to get into the River North establishment.

Now a man who huddled in the lines outside, watching such scenes while waiting to pay a $15 cover charge, has accused the nightclub of violating his civil rights.

And the complaint filed by Arlington Heights lawyer Sam Pappas has spurred the Illinois Department of Human Rights to investigate whether the club at 308 W. Erie St. illegally discriminates against men, in a case that could threaten ladies' nights across the state.

This may seem like a quixotic attempt to battle an unwritten rule of nightlife--that women always get a break because the club that can lure in women at a discount will automatically bring in men at full price. And Pappas' crusade is not likely to make him the most popular guy on the dance floor.

But legal experts say that under Illinois law, Pappas may be right.

Charging prices based on gender has long been a hot-button issue in the dry cleaning and hairstyling industries, with women complaining they regularly are forced to pay more than men. New York City and California have outlawed the practice of charging different prices for goods or services based on a customer's sex.

At nightclubs, "differential pricing" based on sex--whether it's an advertised ladies' night or an informal practice at the door--has been declared illegal in Iowa, Wisconsin, Connecticut, California, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

In Illinois, an attempt to challenge differential pricing under a provision of the state's liquor licensing laws failed in 1981. Pappas' complaint, however, claims a violation under the state's anti-discrimination law. Legal experts say that makes it a stronger case. Similar cases elsewhere have succeeded on those grounds.

"This isn't anti-female, it's egalitarian," said Pappas, 36, a commercial real-estate lawyer for Transamerica Finance Corp. in Rosemont. "People should be treated equally, across the board."

According to his complaint against Buzz, Pappas felt he was a victim of sex discrimination because women were charged $10 at the door, compared with $15 for men.

Investigators also are likely to probe Pappas' complaint against the White Star Lounge, 225 W. Ontario St., said Wayne Echt, an investigator with the state Department of Human Rights. Pappas said he had to pay $20 to enter the White Star, while women paid $10.

Buzz owner Anthony Stern denied that the club's policies favor women.

"We don't do that, as far as I know," Stern said when told of Pappas' complaint against his club. "I can't control everyone that comes through the door. But why wouldn't I want the same amount of money from everyone?"

White Star owner Mark Hoffmann, declined to comment.

If the Department of Human Rights finds substantial evidence of a violation and can't arrive at a settlement, the complaint would go to the Human Rights Commission, which essentially serves as a court in such matters.

If the facts support Pappas, the practice would be considered discriminatory under the law in Illinois, said one former administrative law judge for the Human Rights Commission.

"This clearly violates the statute," said Richard Gonzalez, a professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law. "I think the state has no choice but to take these complaints seriously."

Armed with a similar statute, then-Atty. Gen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut pressed the 1985 case that outlawed ladies' nights in his state. Three women in the District of Columbia successfully argued in 1995 that ladies' nights were discriminatory.

"The women didn't like the idea that they were being used to create a meat-market atmosphere," said George Washington University law professor John Bahnzaf III, who also litigated successfully against dry cleaners that charged women more than men for pressing their shirts.

As early as 1972, human rights officials in New York ruled that the New York Yankees could not offer a $1 discount on tickets to women on Ladies' Day at the ballpark.

In Illinois, however, ladies' nights remain common, and few of their patrons--male or female--share Pappas' sense of outrage.

"Where women are, that's where men want to be," said Keith Archer, manager at the VooDoo Nightclub in Schaumburg, where women get in free on Wednesdays.

Amy Michael, 21, of Glenview, parties often at the White Star Lounge and said she understood that the cover charges are $20 for men and $10 for women. She said she appreciates never having to wait in line.

"They always let girls in first," Michael said. "Guys just get mad because they have to wait longer, but I don't think it's discriminating."

Pappas said he likes Buzz, White Star Lounge and other bars for the music they play and the women who flood the dance floors. He continues to hit the clubs regularly. Still, he said, "I would rather spend the extra money I'm charged at the door to buy women drinks at the bar."